Chapter 599: Individual Tournament 20

4th Match: Loving Aunt vs Quiet Blade (Cobra)! 

Loving Aunt casually climbed the stage on the left while Cobra came up on the right. His face was grim as he knew he was in for a tough one and there was no running from it. 

When Amber called for the match to begin, Cobra instantly used Extreme Stealth to disappear to stop his opponent from doing it. 

Alas, Loving Aunt simply smiled widely as she unleashed a myriad of skills. 

Toxic Supremacy! 

Acid Rain! 

Toxic Cloud! 

Poison Ivy! 

Toxic Supremacy was her passive that reduced HP by 1.5% every second for everyone within 3 miles of her person and even increased her poison-related abilities by 40%. 

Acid Rain was an active skill that showered the area with greenish-purple droplets that dealt variable damage depending on the type of poison Loving Aunt used, and also had a range of 3 miles that would last for 1.5 minutes. 

Toxic Cloud was another active skill that covered an area of 3 miles and deal 5% of Loving Aunt's poison damage per second for its 30-minute duration. 

The two synergized with Toxic Supremacy to cause a deadzone around Loving Aunt, where even the arena below then was corroded until the untextured white surface generated by the AI was shown. 

At this point, Amber had already accepted that she would have to ask the AI to change the arena after every match, since the participants didn't care about the damage they caused to it. 

Fortunately, this was easy enough to accomplish in the virtual world, not that this would stop her from billing Umbra a large invoice afterwards. 

Despite all those skills, Loving Aunt felt the need to be even more careful, so she used her crowd control skill, Poison Ivy. Which spawned a plethora of thorny vines that trapped all enemies within - you guessed it - a 3-mile radius. 

Obviously, it was meaningless against Cobra, even if it did last a while. If he could not even be detected, it was impossible for anything to touch him except indiscriminate skills like AOE ones. 

At this time, Cobra appeared outside her deadzone with a serious expression in a direction that Loving Aunt was definitely unable to see. He then used his beloved skill to defang her. 

Disable! 

The dart was fired out and tore towards Loving Aunt silently from the back. Just as everyone expected it to hit, a black portal appeared behind her, from which the head of a large Blue Snake appeared. 

It swallowed the dart and grimaced heavily before returning into the portal. Loving Aunt then calmly turned to face Cobra with a slight smirk on her face. 

Cobra's heart sank for two reasons. Firstly, that was his only skill that could cancel out other skills, and it had been reduced to a waste. What's worse he had even been forced to come out of stealth to use it. 

Secondly, that smirk looked exactly like Draco's when he had an enemy cornered. Cobra realized that Loving Aunt really did resemble Draco in many ways, then remembered that she was his not-mom. 

Cobra frowned and re-entered stealth immediately since he was out of Loving Aunt's range. He decided to go into the shadows and wait until a chance appeared for him to slaughter Loving Aunt. 

However, Fyre would not simply give him that chance. She rushed towards Cobra's last potion and used the Basic Transformation Technique, transforming her pupils into slits. 

This granted her the infrared vision of her Serpentine Familiar, as well as its taste-smelling ability. Something that usually had very little utility, suddenly became extremely threatening when Loving Aunt's gaze locked onto Cobra. 

Because she was using a technique, it did not force Cobra out of stealth, but the result was the same regardless. His face greatly changed as he noticed Loving Aunt's gaze staring at him. 

He easily dodged the poison arrows she threw at his location, but the implication of this made his blood run cold. Cobra now had to change his entire battle style, so he moved about carefully. Making sure to keep their distance between himself and Loving Aunt. 

Cobra's eyes became cold as he used his Blood Control passive to try and disrupt the flow of Loving Aunt. However, when he tried to, Cobra's face changed once more as he felt like the blood inside Loving Aunt's body was dense and heavy, making the task as difficult as having to carry 300 tons. 

Not only that, it was extremely hot and violent, so Cobra ended up suffering backlash from the weight and nature of Loving Aunt's blood. 

Loving Aunt who saw this blinked in surprise, then looked at Cobra strangely. 

"Daring to try and manipulate the blood of one of our kind… I'm not sure if you are ignorant or foolish." 

Cobra understood what she meant and sighed inside. This was his first time using this ability on one of the Lineage members, so he had just learned for himself that trying to mess with special bloodlines was hard for him at this stage. 

The Slayer pulled out some throwing knives and tossed them toward Loving Aunt, but she simply manifested snake scales and watched the weapons fail to penetrate those before falling on the destroyed arena floor. 

Cobra knew he was out of options, especially since Loving Aunt's Toxic Supremacy was beginning to permeate the area. She was also closing down on him and limiting his movement, so Cobra began to fight desperately. 

Even if his stealth was rendered useless, he was still an excellent fighter. After all, he worked at the cartel's fighting ring, so he could definitely throw down. 

However, fighting Loving Aunt at close range was a terrible task, as he had to suffer damage from so many AOE active skills that he eventually fell to his knees with 5% HP in just 30 seconds. 

In that time though, he had managed to fight Loving Aunt down to 50% HP, even though Fyre was a great fighter herself. However, she was less of a melee class and more of a summoner class. 

One of the reasons why Cobra could even get this far against Fyre was due to her own casualness. After all, she too knew she had cornered Cobra, so she only needed to fend off his desperate last-minute retaliation rather than stake it all. 

When Cobra eventually turned to pixels and returned to the side, Loving Aunt turned off her skills and patted her belly lazily. This was much loved by the male crowd because it, like most of the things she had done in this fight, had made her massive badonkers bounce like balloons. 

Cobra himself was not sad by the outcome, more like frustrated. The French crowd also groaned as they had been kicked out now, but they still clapped for Cobra as he had made a valiant effort. 

Fourth match winner: Loving Aunt! 

Amber then began speaking to the crowd enthusiastically. "And with that, ladies and gentlemen, the Quarterfinals have come to an end. Let's not waste any time and conclude the Semifinals, before things get old and repetitive and I must say, things are looking extremely tight!" 

Amber then gestured to a screen that appeared behind her. "Here are the matchups for the round!" 

1st Match: Essence Stalker vs Gentle Lamb (Kiran)! 

2nd Match: Deployed Solider vs Loving Aunt! 

The crowd buzzed with excitement, as the names of the top four had resounded throughout the duration of the tournament, achieving things that were simply great. 

Now, they got to watch them face off in an intense arena where everything would be decided in a few hits. This was the epitome of entertainment! 

Essence Stalker teleported onto the left side of the arena with his halberd in hand, his expression locked into a confident smirk. Kiran came up the stage on the right, his expression grim as he felt like someone had sent him out to solo a World Boss on his own. 

When Amber called for the match to begin, Essence laughed and swung his halberd towards Kiran, sending out a purple wave that consisted of Void Energy. Anything it touched would be banished to a different void, which had the neat effect of 'slicing' in a way. 

Kiran dodged the attack and began his transformation. His body exploded with an inflamed and spiky aura as the entire arena shook as he was emitting shockwaves that crated continuous sharp winds and kicked up dust. 

"HAAAAAHH!" Kiran roared intensely as he bent down slightly, his short blond hair rising up and beginning to shift color to red as it rose up. He clenched both his fists tightly, his muscles bulging and his two energies mixing together to form a reddish-gold aura that glowed around him. 

A large shockwave blew out when he finished his transformation, Kiran standing there majestically as his aura continued to rage, his purple eyes gazing at his foe with seriousness. 

When he saw this, Essence couldn't help but lick his lips and admit truthfully. 

"No matter how many times I see that, it's still so fucking cool." 

Then his expression darkened slightly. "However, daring to be cooler than your father here, it seems that the rankings have not shown the gap between us. I too will acquire such a transformation one day, but even without it, I can still beat you today!" 

Essence roared as he teleported beside Kiran, swinging his halberd down with its edges coated in Void Energy. Kiran calmly reacted by striking out with a fist towards the blade. 

To the shock of the crowd, the halberd that was supposed to be able to bisect anything got countered by Kiran... and Essence even took a few steps back! 

It couldn't be helped, Kiran's strength in this form was too high, such that even Essence with his monstrous abilities got pushed back a little. 

Essence's eyes narrowed as he identified the cause, which was the red aura surrounding Kiran. The combination of Internal Force, Noble Energy, and Gate Force had created the powerful Noble Gate Force. 

This energy was at a very high rank despite being a derived form of energy, even able to negate the effects of Destruction Energy from the arrow Tunder had shot at Kiran. 

If that had failed, how could Void Energy succeed so easily? 

Kiran roared and blasted over to Essence's front, throwing a punch out. Essence smirked and entered his void, making his body intangible. He was curious to find it whether Kiran's aura that had negated the energy on his attack, could also negate the energy when he used it for defense. 

The result was that Essence ended up coughing blood, was struck on the chest despite being in his void, Kiran's fist connecting with him instead of passing through. However, Essence noted that while he did suffer from it, the damage was extremely minimal. 

This had to do with the nature of his ability, which was complex. 

For one, Essence might be visible to everyone as if he was present, but he actually wasn't. The core member was in a whole other dimension that was light years away from the current plane they were in. 

The him people saw was only the anchor point into his void, which was where he entered and would have to exit from. This meant, that as long as one had the power to lock space, they could prevent Essence from entering the current arena space by keeping trapped in his void. He'd have to either brute force his way out or find another exit. 

If one also had enough power or a special trait that allowed them to breach the entrance of his void and transfer the attack into it, they could harm him. The latter case was what Kiran achieved. 

He punched the anchor point/entrance and so his Noble Gate Force collided with the Void Energy there, managing to come out on top. It then entered his void, yet the distance it crossed, layered with the chaotic Void Energy in Essence's own realm whittled it down until its effect had greatly been diminished. 

Nevertheless, it had been enough to make the Lucifer Lineage member cough blood from physical force for the first time in this tournament. 

"Tsk, if I could make this world bigger, that might not have even reached me." Essence commented with a smile while wiping his mouth. 

Kiran nodded in agreement. "I felt it. If you had just 3 kilometers more distance, that hit would have felt like a light tap." 

Kiran's eyes narrowed. "However, if I am to defeat you, this is not enough. My Noble Gate Force can easily last the entire battle, but so can you. And you haven't even transformed into a Dragon yet." 

Essence felt something tingling in the back of his mind, like a voice trying to warn him that something drastic was about to happen. His face greatly changed as he saw a gleam in Kiran's eyes, and knew that he had to stop the fellow before he did whatever he planned to do next. 

Essence immediately teleported behind Kiran and came out of his void, channeling all his power into a single swing. However, Kiran simply smiled and shook his head calmly. 

"What comes next cannot be disrupted, Brother Essence." 

Kiran then spread his legs apart slightly, making his knees bend. He contracted his torso and bent over, bringing each fist to his side while clenching it tightly. 

He breathed out deeply, before speaking, even as Essence's halberd was about to strike his face. 

"What you saw when I came up the stage was my normal state. With Internal Force and Noble Energy, I am in my Battle Form. With Internal Force, Noble Energy, and Gate Force from the first gate, I achieved my Super Warrior form." 

Boyd displayed a shocked expression as sweat dropped his brow. "Has he really found a way to surpass a Super Warrior? Is that possible? 

Cobra shook his head, confused and full of anxiety. "He must be bluffing… I mean, what would that make him? A Double Super Warrior? 

Suddenly, a shockwave exploded from Kiran's body that knocked Essence away, much to the fellow's shock. He had to dig his halberd into the ground in order to resist the force remitting from Kiran. 

"AND THIS…!!" 

Struggling to resist the shockwave that had occurred by the side, Happy Saint cried out. "W-What's he doing?!" 

"IS TO GO… EVEN FURTHER BEYOND!!!" Kiran roared as his aura spiked further, growing higher and higher. 

The shockwave blew the entire arena grounds apart, causing cracks to form across the entire stage as a whole. Even the audience had to cover their faces from the biting winds that lashed at them, their hearts and minds filled with shock. 

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!" Kiran bellowed in a mixture of agony and power as his already blood red hair began to grow slightly longer with each millisecond. 

Two bangs formed on his forehead that sat on the left and right side, and his purple eyes slowly became deeper. His compact frame became slightly bigger as his muscles expanded slightly, even that they were outlined on his daoist monk robes. 

Loving Aunt, Essence Stalker, and Tunder Power showed expressions of pain on their faces as their bodies trembled, sensing something terrible emerging from Kiran. 

For Loving Aunt and Essence, it was only slight and could be written off as part of the shockwave, but poor Tunder felt like his body would shake itself apart, 

The scarlet-colored Noble Gate Force that surrounded Kiran grew and then condensed, before growing and condensing again. Each time it did, its color became slightly darker and it became less like a fancy mist and more like a condensed shroud. 

"No, stop it Kiran! If you do this now, it will severely harm your body!" Amber shouted towards the fellow, but he ignored her as he continued to power up. 

"AAAAAAAAAHHHH!!" Kiran bellowed as his voice seemed to echo on itself, making the ears of those nearby bleed. 

Everyone was shocked to see that torrents of ambient energy were being drawn towards Kiran and being absorbed by his aura, causing it to soothe his pain. This created the visual of clouds of energy being sucked in by the fellow. 

Boyd gazed at Kiran with shock as the entire atmosphere seemed to be shaking. "I-It's unreal… how is he generating that much power?!" 

Sublime could barely keep herself upright with her small stature, yet she gazed at Kiran confidently. "Do it babe!" 

"Urgh, I-It's.. too much!" Cobra commented weakly as he dug his daggers into the ground. 

"HAAAAGHHH!!" Kiran's robes burst open in the upper part, displaying his inner battle wear that was beginning to rip into pieces. The air around him began to coagulate and trembled, as some strange ethereal things began to coil around Kiran's spirit. 

"Stop it, stop it now, Kiran!" Amber warned as she began to panic a little. Things were getting out of hand with even the arena space being cracked open and starting to connect with the outside void. 

The space that this entire competition was being held was not in the Western Fantasy section, but in the Nexus Void that connected all the sections together. 

They had chosen this corner, so it wouldn't disrupt anything external, but the AI had never predicted that the second level of Kiran's Super Warrior form would crack it open and allow those forbidden things to enter. 

Apart from the pathways that the AI protected and allowed those with void passes to use, the rest of it was dangerous. It was a place where only those at the Origin Rank could roam, and even then, they may not exactly be at the top of the food chain. 

Amber did not know what was connecting with Kiran, but it certainly couldn't be good. At this time, she was thankful Kiran was using a helmet and not a pod, otherwise it might have even more drastic effects on his real body. 

"Unghh… what is Kiran doing? The whole space is shaking apart! If he doesn't stop this… everything is going to be destroyed!" Slim Fatty asked with a pale face, digging her swords into whatever she could. 

"Yiiaeee… s-somebody make it stop!!" Panty King and Wee Cunt screeched as they clutched each other and were tossed all over the place like ragdolls. 

At this moment, Kiran seemed to reach a breaking point as he bent over even deeper, his body starting to shake deeply.